Peggy lee(May 26,1920-January 21,2002) was one of the most important musical influences of the twenth century. in a field dominated by singers with big or flashy styles,Peggy Lee became a sotto voce legend.The platinum-blond NOrth Dakota native was popular mosic,s ultimate embodiment of less is more,particularly as aging and ill health took their toll on her voice.With her whispery authority, she conveyed a full range of emotion as powrfully as the fullest-throated divas.

"You have to have your heart broken at least once to sing a love song",she once said,quoting Sophie Tucker.But she balanced the pained truth in her vocals with strenth, revelling a debt to the great Billie Holiday.

Whether singing pop or jazz or blending them together,the woman who had "fever" morning and night was the coolest of stylist.Though Miss Lee spent her final years in relative obscurity, recording rarely,her influence can be heard and felt in any number of young singers,including pop chanteuse k.d.lang and genre-mixr Cassandra Wilson.

For all the deep(and generally neglected)rewards of her matured style,her early recordings had a youthfull ease and natural sense of swing that are equally hard to resist.For all the adversity Miss Lee Faced with her multiple marriages,daibetes,chronically debilitating Meniere's diseas and heart ailments occasional artistic misfires,she projected a dtermined optimism.

When Lee became successful in her music career she proceeded to being a actor,in which she also found success.Her brief acting carer included an Oscar-nominated performance in "Pete Kelly's Blues"(1955).in 1955,she co-wrote music  and provided voices for Walt Disney's"Lady and the Tramp".

Peggy Lee continued to do performances as she got older throughtout the 1990's,sometimes even in a wheelchair.After several health complications such as Meniere disease and diabetes Peggy Lee eventually died at the age of 81 from a heart attack.